DIVISIO^^ OF FORAGE PLANTS SC9 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM, BRANDON, MAN. 



REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT, W. C. McKILLICAN, B.S.A. 



The season of 1913 was not especially favourable for the growing of forage crops. 

 These crops do best in a moist season, when the rainfall is abundant. A season that 

 is tot) wet for grain crops, very ofteli suits them admirably. The summer of 1913 was 

 rather dry for the best results even in wheat growing, and consequently crops demand-" 

 ing abundance of moisture were somewhat at a disadvantage. 



Field lots of alfalfa gave a very good crop in the first cutting, which was taken 

 off about June 20 to 30. The second cutting, taken off about August 1, suffered much 

 more from drought, and was only a fair crop. Quite a good third crop could have been 

 cut, but it was left for winter protection. A field sown to alfalfa in May produced an 

 excellent catch. This field was in corn in 1912; it was well cultivated that season and 

 the alfalfa was sown on it at the rate of 20 pounds per acre. 



Fields of red clover, sown in 1912, wintered in perfect condition and grew thickly. 

 The dry weather made the growth remain short, so that the crop harvested was only 

 fairly good. The same applies to grass crops, and mixtures of grasses and clover. 



Good results were obtained with fodder corn this year. The germination was 

 good, and although the seeding was late, as most of the crop was on land that was 

 flooded in May, the growth was rapid and soon made up for the delayed start. A good 

 crop of first-class fodder was harvested. 



±iK)Ot crops were most seriously affected by the shortage of rainfall and were below 

 average in yield. Nevertheless, even in this rather dry season the crop harvested was 

 well worth the labour expended on it» 



INDIAN COEN. 



Thirteen varieties of fodder corn were grown in uniform test rows. Four rows of 

 each variety were grown, two rows together in one place and two rows in another place, 

 "in order to have a duplicate test. The land was sandy loam, summer fallowed in 1912. 

 The corn was planted on May 27, and harvested on Sei)tember 20. It was quite 

 uninjured by frost when cut. The young plants were considerably injured by soil blowing 

 during a severe windstorm early in June. This delayed them and reduced the yields 

 to quite a degree. One variety of Kaffir corn and one variety of Sugar cane were 

 grown alongside the ordinary corn under the same conditions. The yields are cal- 

 culated from four rows G814 feet long and 3-^ feet apart. 



16—59 



